stormtrooper story
by fraghammer
Summary: a small squad of stormtroopers attached to an imperial guard force finds itself involved in matters beyond their control, features physic gibberish and so forth...
1. Chapter 1

Authors notes:

I am writing an hl2 fanfic at the mo, so I thought I would try something new. Always been a fan of 40k and I collect IG, I am also an inquisition fan. So I though I might as well do a thing on stormtroopers, I just love kasrkin/stormtroopers, the average guardsman has a certain charm, but the elite guard just have that little extra something.

The whole thing is going to be a little inquisitorial, like any 40k tale.

Who knows? Maybe I'll fit in a little pysker creepiness…

Disclaimer: I own: the characters, planets, and IG regiment mentioned in this story

Disclaimer: I do not own: everything else about 40k

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M41 851

17TH October

SEGMENTUM ULTIMA

HAVEN

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"Right, move that over there, we will need the promethium over next to the gate, NO NOT THERE, yes there."

It was a busy day; the 134th had been unpacking supplies for over six hours now, leaving traps and defences along the entrance to the building. The Tau would be arriving soon. If they were to keep the base safe from this attack, they would need organisation. The Tau force was medium sized with minimal armour support, if the recon information was to be believed.

None of the guardsmen knew what they were defending, other than it was of great importance to the Ordos xenos, and in turn, the emperor.

Gregor sighed; he could almost smell the taint of the alien. They were miles away yet, and still, the threat remained. He stood there on the wall, simply admiring how easy to defend the location was. It was a natural cave, the entrance walled off previously, with plenty of suitable locations for a dropship to land.

Gregor turned towards the command centre; his stormtroopers were to play a vital role in the battle. General Walker nodded a greeting upon Gregor's arrival.

"Ah, Greg, you're just in time. The transport is almost here. Are the men prepared?" the general asked.

"They know the will of the emperor that is all the preparation they need." Gregor saluted

"Good, you are aware of the details of the plan?" the general continued

"Yes" Gregor nodded

"Excellent, the valkerie will pick you up shortly."

"Acknowledged."

_____________________________________________________________________

The landing bay was silent, save for the stormtroopers recitation of various prayers. The gunship arrived, the stormtroopers boarded without a word. Gregor glanced from troop to troop, to make sure they were ready in the eyes of him on earth. Derek Sat near to the pilot's cabin, quietly reciting another prayer. Drake sat opposite him, silent and humble. Max and Julius sat opposite one another communicating via their own private sign language, most likely betting who could kill more of the emperors' foes in the battle. Gregor himself sat facing Waldron, whose plasma gun dimly lit the interior of the gunship. Markus sat nearest the door, ready to unleash a torrent of flame from his flamer as soon as the door opened. Last of all, Pontius sat in front of Markus, silently modifying his weapons, he carried a sniper rifle and an autogun. Not exactly stormtrooper standard issue, but upon joining the stormtroopers, he had proven it to be in the emperors best interests that he used specific equipment in the field

The scheduled time the squad was to disembark at was twelve twenty five; there were only fifteen minutes until the attack.

Ten minutes

Five minutes

Two minutes.

The Tau weapons were audible against the loud bark of imperial autoguns in the background.

Fifty seconds.

The Tau's alien language could be heard spitting orders.

Ten seconds.

Five seconds

Three seconds

All other noises other than the engines of the gunship seemed to stop.

Pontius grinned under the helmet.

"Let's do this"


	2. Chapter 2

The ramp folded downwards, Markus wasted no time in clearing the way for the rest of the squad, burning a large group of Tau. Pontius followed him out, his autogun blazing. The rest of the squad piled out of the ship. Gregor was equipped with a loudspeaker in his helmet, roaring litanies of fury and purification, his sword cleaved through ranks of Tau, who milled around in confusion. Most of the Tau were still firing at the imperial walls, but a few turned to face the stormtroopers.

The Tau surrounding the gunship were few and far between, while Gregor mopped them up, the rest of the squad followed Pontius.

The Tau formed a neat firing line, took a careful aim, and readied for the order to fire.

It never came.

The squad had fought the Tau before; they knew that they would use ranged combat when possible. So instead of getting into a pointless fire fight with them, the stormtroopers threw frag grenades to disorientate them, and then followed through with knifes. The Tau feebly parried the blades with their guns, after the messy work was done; a gaping hole was left in the Tau lines. The squad fell back to the gunship, and made their escape. The gunship departed. The Tau were stilled running around in confusion.

"Ok men, fall back, arm frag's!" Gregor motioned to the dropship, which was circling above the carnage.

"Aquilla six! We need evac, over" he voxed the pilot.

"Copy"

The dropship landed semi-horizontally, skidding over the Tau lines, the Tau themselves were too distracted by the guard on the walls to fire at the ship.

The stormtroopers sprinted towards the ship, tossing frag grenades over their shoulders. Several explosions heralded the stormtroopers exit. Having made their mark, the squad boarded the ship and watched from above as the guard on the walls took the opportunity to wipe out the confused Tau.

The operation was a huge success.

Later back at the base, the guard cheered at the return of the stormtroopers. Gregor left the squad to their leisurely activities and prayer; meanwhile he set of to command.

"A fine job Gregor, very fine." The general smiled upon Gregor's arrival

Gregor grinned back, "It's been only too long."

"Well, the next Tau force should be a good few weeks yet, they're tied up fighting the PDF in the countryside surrounding the capital, anyway, drink?" the general offered, holding up a bottle of alcohol.

"And the emperor delivers his reward, 'bout time." Gregor nodded.

Gregor accepted a glass of the beverage, and took several long gulps of it.

"Hmm, not from Marl, that's for sure… vintage… M40 946 I'm guessing?"

The general nodded "one of the neighbouring planets, a garden world. Good stuff. just doesn't have the taste of home though…"

Gregor took another gulp of the drink.

"So, where are me and my men going next?"

The general sighed

"Never a casual moment, that's you. Anyway, I will not be overseeing your next mission. You are being attached to the inquisitorial taskforce. They will most likely be sending you to the capital. They think they have found something there."

"Any idea what the Ordos xenos is looking for here yet?" Gregor asked, hesitantly

"Gregor, if they had told us, we would be mind scrubbed or dead by now." The general replied.

"Understood, blessed is the mind too small for doubt." Gregor nodded solemnly

The general nodded grimly.

"Be careful out there, don't learn too much. The inquisition will not hesitate to kill you if your eyes have seen things they don't want you to."

"I will relay your advice to the men; do you know which inquisitor my men and I have been assigned to?" Gregor questioned, taking another few sips of the liquid.

"Inquisitor Callahan, I know nothing of him other than his name. Be careful out there, Greg."

"By the emperors' grace, sir"

The door to the command centre swung open, all eyes turned to face the entrance.

A tall man strode in; he was dressed in the clothes of a stormtrooper. He looked around the room; Gregor could tell he was evaluating the area for threats. When the man was sure that a room held no threat, he motioned for another man to come in.

The second man was regal if nothing else, he was shorter than the other man, but still remained an imposing figure. He was covered in inquisition sigils, and wore silver armour similar to that of one of the astartes, servos whirring and clanking as he walked. At his waist, a small box with the inquisitorial 'I' was hung.

Gregor had no doubt:

This was inquisitor Callahan.


	3. Chapter 3

"Gentlemen! I'm sorry I could not dress more casually, its going to be a rough day." Callahan spoke, his voice calm, and, while not sinister, carrying an air of darkness and misery.

"I am inquisitor Callahan, none of you know me and…" the inquisitor looked around the room. "You…yes, you. You would be Sergeant Gregor Foley, yes?" he pointed at Gregor.

Gregor saluted calmly

"Yes sir"

The inquisitor nodded

"I apologise again gentlemen, I'm afraid I must take the good sergeant with me for the time being."

The inquisitor began to leave the room, without being told to, Gregor followed.

The inquisitor said nothing; neither did the stormtrooper following him, Gregor remained silent as well.

When the trio neared the landing pad, the inquisitor spoke.

"We shall be travelling by thunderhawk, your squad is already on board and ready for combat, I have bought your weapons and equipment on as well, during the mission, you will have access to specialist weaponry if you should desire. Briefing will take place en route."

Callahan had not turned to speak, but Gregor nodded anyway.

The three reached the landing pad, the thunderhawk gunship waited for them with its ramp down.

On board, all of the squad awaited Gregor, some of them browsing weapon racks for weapons more to their suiting. Pontius had taken a shotgun in addition to his usual sniper rifle and to replace his autogun; he had busied himself by seeing how many incendiary rounds for the shotgun he could fit in the ammunition pouch on his belt.

Gregor took a quick look at the rack, began browsing the weapons, and found a gun to replace his hellpistol. He found a compacted storm bolter; it had been converted for use by unaugmented soldiers. He began searching for kraken rounds.

After several minutes in the air, the inquisitor stomped into the compartment, his armoured boots making loud banging noises against the metal floor.

There was a long pause, Callahan looked around, he donned a domed helmet, it was silver like the rest of his armour.

"Do any of you know why you are here?" he hissed, not intentionally venomous, but menacing, all the same.

There was a brief pause.

"No? You are here on the emperors' demand, by way of the holy inquisition."

He let this sink in.

"The inquisition is on this planet for reasons the emperor shares with select few. And by my personal request. We are going to a small community, south of the planetary capital. The town has a small PDF garrison and houses approximately 2300 souls. We are going there because I believe that a group of xenos sympathisers may possess information critical to my planetary operations. Our objective is to enter the meeting place of this group, take any information we can, and leave. I have bought you with me as a safety precaution. Any questions?"

No-one spoke.

"Good"

The inquisitor left the cabin

After several minutes. Someone spoke.

"Do you think he'll let us keep these weapons?" Pontius asked casually.

The thunderhawk touched down in the middle of a forest, in a clearing barely big enough for it.

Without a word, the group disembarked.

It was a mercifully short trek to the town, and thankfully, the place did not have many people out on the town streets (or dirt paths).

Callahan stopped at the far end of the town, there was only one house for a good few metres.

The stormtrooper that had accompanied Callahan before (and who would appear to have been a permanent member of the inquisitors entourage) took a place in front of him. Positioning himself in front of the house door.

"Any particular way of gaining entrance, sir?" the man spoke with a strong Valhallan accent.

"Just the usual, Josef"

Josef (for that was his name) switched on a small device next to his neck.

He hammered the door with the butt of his hellgun.

"OPEN UP, YOU HIVE OF EMPEROR BETRAYING SCUM!" apparently the device was a voice amplifier.

There was an uneasy pause.

Pontius looked around a bit.

"Perhaps you should have knocked."

Josef smiled, "at least they know we're here."

After waiting a little longer and checking the time several times, Callahan spoke.

"Ah, to the warp with this, bash the frakking door down."

"Gladly sir" Josef was now grinning inanely.

Josef took several steps back, bashed his helmet a few times, and ran up to the door.

Then it opened abruptly and Josef stumbled through. Gregor was sure he heard pottery breaking.

Callahan shook his head, and stomped his way into the building, the rest followed.

The interior was typical of the areas buildings, poorly lit, simple furniture (most of witch Josef was clambering out of its wreckage), and etcetera.

An old man stood next to the door, gaping at the destruction wreaked upon his home.

"Inquisitor Callahan of the Ordos xenos, sorry about the mess." Callahan nodded to the man, who just grunted, still shocked from Josef's rather poor entry.

Seeing as the man was of no use at this time, Callahan moved over to a door at the other side of the room. The man snapped back to reality.

"NO! Don't go in there!" he yelled.

Callahan broke the door down with a power armoured fist.

Gregor and the squad followed through.

The other room was, again, typical of the local houses.

Cheap and simple ornaments, little lighting, tank sized portal structure in the centre of the room…

Wait. What?


	4. Chapter 4

At the moment of the discovery, a tiny red dot sparked off Callahan's armour, then another and another. The houses resident had a laspistol, emperor knows what he planned to do with it, but the fool had courage, or stupidity.

"Step away from the gate! I told you not to come in here!"

Callahan turned to face the man, raising his left hand, which had a power fist attached.

"Please" Callahan sighed

The inquisitor jabbed his arm forward, and the little mans head was crushed against a wall, which promptly splintered.

Josef finished clambering out of the wreckage of the furniture, and took a position in front of the gate.

Gregor and the rest of the squad followed and surrounded the structure.

Josef never moved his aim from the thing.

"Orders?"

Callahan tried to move into the room, but had to widen the doorframe for his armour. He examined the structure for several minutes, muttering meaningless words. He then said a word that the squad recognized; he finally gave his opinion on the subject.

"Eldar tech, a webway gate of some sort, odd that they would assemble one here, in the house of a human. They don't trust us, you know. They usually keep such tech to themselves. This is out of hand now, I had expected something of this sort, but…" Callahan was shaking his head by now, even he was lost, and he quite obviously was not prepared for a discovery like this.

Gregor and the squad turned as a voice, distant yet near at the same time, a ghostly echo, spoke behind them.

"But what? Inquisitor"

Neither Josef nor Callahan turned. The sentence had been spoken by separate people, near the entrance to the house, two children in their teens stood, holding hands. One a boy, his pale skin glowing dimly in the low lighting, his long, uncut hair seemingly floated as if submerged in water. The other, a girl with skin, paler still. Her were eyes closed, but her pupils shone through the eyelids. Most of her face was obscured by long, black hair.

Callahan sighed, "You know by now that I did not expect this, Victorian."

The girl spoke. "Irving, we knew this from before the war began, and we know that all will understand, soon enough."

The boy took over speaking. "You know what is to be done, and you know what is at stake, if you do not act soon, then this discovery is meaningless."

Gregor pointed his storm bolter at the two children, had they been anyone else he would have deemed the act unthinkable.

"State your intent, witch!" Gregor yelled at the children, he prepared to fire.

"Be not afraid," the girl spoke.

"Son of marl" the boy finished.

Callahan grunted. "Do not shoot. They're with us."

Gregor lowered his gun, unconvinced.

"Truth is, and we all know it, Victorian, is that we must bring a full team for survey, investigation and demolition of this gate. Unless you can reveal anything?" Callahan turned to face the two children.

"We have tried a million times since we reached this world, and a million times before, both of us sensed this in our fates and yet neither of us could see anything beyond. It is though something, is hiding our gaze, preventing our minds from venturing forth. We share anything we find, if half knows, then it becomes full circle. Our minds work as one, and yet we see, nothing." Both children spoke as one.

"Great, do you feel anything now that you are near it?" Callahan gestured to the gate.

The two children walked into the room together, holding hands. When they reached the gate, they stopped. The boy's hair dropped, and hung freely, the glow behind the girls eyelids faded, and she opened her eyes, Callahan jumped back, Josef stared at the two children. The girls deep blue eyes flicked to Pontius. And she spoke by herself.

"Now we understand"


	5. Chapter 5

Josef stammered for at least a minute and Callahan almost fell over. And the young boy was shivering. Josef finished stammering for a few seconds.

"Did she just! What? Emperor on terra. What?" he blurted out.

Pontius looked at the girl for a few moments, and then he leaned to Josef, who was next to him.

"Hey" he whispered "why is she looking at me like that?"

Josef was still shocked, and was not going to give an answer.

Callahan regained his footing.

"What's going on Victorian?" he said, his voice almost conveyed fear.

The young boy was beginning to moan, he was beginning to gain colour in his skin.

"Get it out of me… please! The blackness! The void! By the emperor! GET! IT! OUT! OF! MY! HEAD!" as boy began to scream, the girl remained silent.

"What is it victor! For the emperors sake, what is wrong with you!?" Callahan yelled over the boy.

Victor? Gregor thought, the boy was called victor, but the two were referred to as Victorian, Gregor began to make guesses as to the girls name.

"Victoria? What is wrong with him?" Callahan roared, quite genuinely clueless now.

The girl was silent for a few seconds longer, but then turned to face Callahan.

"Irving, perhaps those two…"

She pointed to Pontius and drake.

"…would be better placed on patrol outside?"

Gregor could almost see Callahan raise an eyebrow under the helmet.

Callahan pondered the girls request, that she had used his first name made it an urgent matter.

"You two," he nodded to the two men the girl had indicated. "Do as she said, outside."

Pontius and drake moved outside, shortly after, the boy calmed down and his hair floated freely again, the girl snapped her eyes shut and the glow returned, both children's skin turned pale once more.

"The sight returns, we see once more" the two children spoke.

"Do you see anything concerning this place now?" Callahan hurried the question

"We see many things, but little is clear, inquisitor, there may well be another like us fighting our gaze" the children spoke in unison.

Callahan turned to the gate

"Eldar?"

Victoria nodded

"Perhaps, it is hard to tell. They are actively resisting us."

"Let them resist, see how well they fare…" the inquisitor started, victor interrupted.

"There is more than one who would resist, but the second is… different, his mind is less devoted to the eldar path, in fact he does not even walk that road…" victors eyes flashed briefly.

Victoria continued: "one who has crossed our souls before…"

Callahan sighed

"Aww frak, I don't like this."

Victoria smiled, both children nodded

"Old plagueskin"

At the sound of that name, the eldar gate pulsed and a brief flash illuminated the room.

"Webway insertion! Brace yourselves!" Josef roared, levelling his hellgun.

The gate swirled and shot lighting in all directions, Josef was hit by one strike, but was done no harm. Ethereal energy filled the hut, Gregor had been present when the eldar had entered a battlefield via their webway, but this was different. Then it had been troops and vehicles.

Now, something was forcing its way through.

After the thing finished, the room lighted as bright as the stars, an eldar hand reached out, followed by an arm, a robed figure stumbled into the room, nobody fired.

The figure had a gaping hole in his waist, his robes were torn, and a sharp runed knife was stuck firm in his back. The figure fell forwards onto the floor.

"Inquisitor… come closer…" he groaned.

Callahan stepped towards the alien.

"Who are you?"

"Farseer Elthor harshmirr of biel-tan. You are inquisitor Irving Callahan of the Ordos Xenos, yes? I bring terrible news…"

"Victorian! Stabilize the eldar at once!" Callahan ordered.

The farseer was bleeding dangerous amounts of blood; he would bleed to death if he was not given medical aid.

Victor and Victoria held one hand each over the farseers wounds, the bleeding stopped, temporally. Josef ran over to the farseer and inspected the knife.

"Remove it?" Josef wasn't worried or stressed; emperor knew how many situations like this he had been through.

Callahan inspected the weapon himself.

"Whenever he is stable"

Josef looked to victor, who nodded slightly. Josef slowly removed the blade from the wound, the runes along it flashed briefly, and the farseer screeched. There were a few moments of the farseer shuddering, before his body went limp.

"Damn, failsafe. They really didn't want the bastard getting better" Josef sighed, the blade must have been rigged to kill if it was removed. The problem did not end there; however, as the farseers body twitched several times, and then began shaking. Everybody took positions around the corpse, Victoria and victor retreated to the other room.

After a whole minute of the farseers corpse shaking, there were a few seconds when vile, oozing pus seeped from the eldar's eyes, nostrils and ears. The corrupt fluid flowed in between the floorboards and the wood began to rot. The farseer started to decompose and bloated flies formed from parts of the farseers flesh. Finally, the ooze ascended the walls, the eldar's body was the lifted up onto the ceiling, it was now little more than a mound of flesh and corrupt clothing. The pus solidified into maggot infested arms and mouths. The eldar portal glowed once more before dying.

What may once have been a man stood in the room, he stood almost as high as the ceiling, his decaying form bulked out by gargantuan armour. The house shook at the things approach; he was a living symbol of its patron god.

A traitor space marine.

The traitor stretched its arms, yawning as if awakening from a long sleep. Then he stepped forward, the planks of the building creaked and strained under the things weight, but they never collapsed. He looked up, shaking his head.

"Ah, elthor… such a waste of potential… we could have been pals…." The traitor sighed audibly, and then he grinned and looked up at the others in the room.

"Oh! And Irving, it's been only too long since… how are you anyway?"

Callahan levelled his weapon

"IN THE NAME OF THE EMPEROR! BLIGHT HIS REALM NO LONGER!"

Callahan's wrist mount storm bolter fired for at least twenty seconds on full auto, it must have had a modified clip capacity, because Gregor had never seen one fire that many rounds in one clip.

Josef, Gregor and the rest of the group joined in, the pus infested walls were demolished completely by the gunfire, half the house was torn into pieces by the volley.

What remained of the marine afterwards was simply a skeleton with small amounts of septic flesh hanging here and there.

"Hmm, you are seeing someone about your anger management problems, right? I thought they were giving you medication" The traitor's remains spoke, it seemed impossible, seeing as most of the marines throat was shredded by gunfire.

Callahan roared again "KEEP FIRING! ANOTHER VOLLEY! ANOTHER!"

The process repeated itself, more gunfire devastated the area, this time Josef threw frag grenades to aid in the destruction, Markus's flamer was burning most of what was left of the room down, the only part remaining was that where the squad stood.

The firing ceased, the traitor was little more than ashes now.

"Ouch… have you taken your pills AT ALL? Bad show Irving, bad show…" the ash pile somehow gave its reply to the gunfire.

Callahan hit a doorframe next to him, breaking it.

"All right, I give up, why are you here and how did you escape from area quinquaginta unus?"

The ash pile reformed itself, the ash grains knitted together to form the traitor once more.

"I have a name, Irving"

Callahan sighed. "Fine, plagueskin, why are you here, and how did you get out?"

Plagueskin smiled.

"Much the same reason as you are. And I hardly escaped from, as much as destroyed area quinquaginta unus"

Plagueskin turned to the portal. "I only came to give you this warning. Leave this world and never return. For if you stay, the future is not bright for you and your men. Not that I expect you to listen."

The traitor was just about to re-enter the portal, when Pontius and drake tore into the room.

Pontius unloaded his shotgun at plagueskins left knee (the armour had been lost when he was incinerated.)

The chaos marine's leg bled green for a few seconds, and then the top half visibly began sliding forward. Pontius had sawn it in two with gunfire. As the leg fell in two, the marine uttered one word.

"Shit"

Plagueskin fell forward into the portal, his lower left leg still left behind.

Callahan looked at Pontius, for some reason, the look made Gregor shiver.

Then Callahan turned to Markus.

"Burn the house to the ground."


End file.
